What is it like to be a product manager for an Internet company?

In 2003, I graduated from school, ran around, and was finally admitted to an electronic product company, asking me to do marketing, in fact, this is contrary to the original intention, my introverted personality, not suitable for the market at all. People always have to constantly break through themselves in order to grow and harvest. So I gritted my teeth and agreed to do marketing, and I did it for two years, and only after two years was I promoted to product manager.

In short, it can be regarded as a bittersweet one.

Every day, you are busy with the whole project team, you have to show up when there is a problem, you have to show up when there is no problem, set schedules, rush the deadline, draw prototypes, and capture data ......I'm busy every day, but I don't seem to know what I'm busy with, what is the actual output?

In the past ten years as a product manager, I have experienced this position from when I first entered the industry, no one knew what it was for, to gradually recognized this position by BTA (in order of first recognized product manager position) of several major Internet companies in China, and then to the flood of product managers in the industry, and was misunderstood, questioned and even despised by R&D and other teams in many small and medium-sized companies.

Mentally, you should be prepared to study for a long time and keep learning, if you feel that you like to eat old books and have no motivation to read books and research, you should not enter this industry.

It's just busy going back and forth, juggling between people of different identities, all product problems have to be involved, decided, and programmers don't make exact decisions. Listen to the programmer say: It's annoying, we can only say that there is no way, that's it, when testing, keep clarifying the data, adding data.

After giving the task, you must ask: when is it good, and if it is better in advance!

After a busy day, you find that no one else knows what you're up to. In fact, even you may not know.

It's a lot of responsibility, and my brain is going to smoke all day. Not doing anything is more important than doing anything, and the wrong things go out, one is a waste of scarce resources such as entrepreneurship, and the other is a huge negative impact and difficult to recover.

I think a product manager is the person in charge of the business, and the engine of the business to move forward, and he needs to have enthusiasm and enthusiasm to infect and push himself and the people around him.

Product managers of Internet companies are more responsible for information collection, product design, project management, online optimization and iteration, etc. The product manager is responsible for what product the product team wants to build, and is responsible for product lifecycle management and achieving business goals. Specifically, the various responsibilities include:

1. Responsible for market research refers to the study of the market to understand customer needs, competition and market forces, with the ultimate goal of discovering potential opportunities for innovation or product improvement;

2. Responsible for product definition and design. Determine what needs to be done with the product and issue a Product Requirements Document (PRD);

3. Responsible for product implementation and operation. Lead people from different teams (including engineers, QA, UI designers, marketing, sales, customer service, etc.) to develop, release and market products on time and within budget;

4. Responsible for collecting market sales information, new technology product development information from time to time, analyzing and tracking competitors, conducting regular product analysis, and absorbing the advantages of industry development.

Of these tasks, the product manager spends the most time often on tasks that involve project management, including but not limited to:

1. Responsible for the preparation of the project in the early stage of the project, including demand research, business exchanges, etc.;

2. Responsible for the overall planning of the project, including project schedule, project scope and project organizational structure;

3. Responsible for project management, responsible for the overall management and follow-up of the project during the implementation of the project, and ensure that the project objectives are achieved according to the project requirements;

4. Responsible for project acceptance.

However, at present, the division of labor of domestic Internet companies is generally relatively detailed, and the product manager is often mainly responsible for the early product design and implementation in a product line, and the subsequent project management and operation are responsible for the special project manager and operation manager.

Internet product managers are at the core of Internet companies and require very strong communication skills, coordination skills, market insight and business sensitivity. It is not only necessary to understand consumers and understand the market, but also to be able to cooperate with various teams with different styles, such as development teams and sales teams.

Internet product managers may have different job responsibilities due to different industries. However, the core work content basically includes the following aspects:

1. Responsible for the proposal of the first-class demand plan and the feasibility of the operation strategy;

2. Responsible for content planning, advertising space development, management and schedule operation management;

3. Count the best data and user feedback, analyze user needs and behaviors, collect product purchases and functional requirements generated in the operation, integrate the opinions and suggestions of various departments, make overall arrangements, discuss and modify, and formulate feasible plans;

5. Cooperate with the marketing department and customer service department to carry out relevant business cooperation and track competitors;

6. Grasp the trend of the Internet market and formulate product competition strategies and plans.

Eight meetings a day, ten hours of meetings, each business party takes turns, you have your schedule, I have my priorities, no one obeys anyone, no one relaxes. In the dead of night, I can finally discredit and write a demand, and I have to be "wiped out", so I can only silently carry the computer home and fight until dawn.

Imagine the product working.

At the time of reporting, the project data performance exceeded expectations, the value was clear, the boss was important, and the promotion and salary increase were upgraded all the way.

The actual product works.

Ten projects a year, eight of which sink into the sea, and the other two have a bunch of failures, and various partners complain, feeling that the existence of the product is a waste of money and labor. Luckily, there is a project that has produced results, and it is also well commanded by the boss, the development architecture is well designed, and the operation strategy is specified well. Products?

What can be the use of a microphone for the product?

Haha, after listening to the above, if you think it's acceptable, then congratulations, you are a real product person, a strong heart, is the most important element to become a product. Don't be nervous, just follow the trend and blacken yourself, at work, you will encounter the scenes you imagine and actually mention. As the product capability becomes stronger and stronger, the experience becomes more and more abundant, and the parties are more and more familiar with it, life will move more and more towards the imagination (knowing how to deal with things and handling relationships, you will not cry in the bed in the dead of night).

In addition to the above self-deprecation, I also have a few suggestions for those who want to change careers as product managers, such as cultivating a basic understanding of the product from 0 to 1 is very important

An Internet Product Manager is a position that is responsible for managing and developing Internet products.

The main work contents include:

Product Grinding Planning: Formulate product development strategies and determine product needs, characteristics, market positioning and competitive advantages.

Demand analysis: study user needs, evaluate and optimize product functions.

Product Design: Coordinate designers, engineers, and development teams to determine the design of the product.

Product Development: Supervise and coordinate the work of the development team to ensure that the product is completed on time and with high quality.

Go-live and Operation: Manage the product go-live and operation process, and evaluate the effectiveness of the product.

The skills that Internet product managers need to master include: product management knowledge, marketing skills, data analysis skills, project management knowledge, communication and coordination skills, etc.

To increase the impact of your product manager, consider the following:

Continuous improvement of professional knowledge: continuous learning and research of new product management methods to improve their professional quality.

Work with the team: Maintain close communication and collaboration with team members to help the team solve problems and achieve product goals together.

Keen insight into customer needs: understand customer needs and integrate customer needs into product design and development.

Data-driven: Actively collect and analyze data to make data-driven decisions and evaluate the effectiveness of products.

Continuous innovation: Constantly explore new product management methods and skills, and constantly improve their own innovation capabilities.

Improvement of communication and coordination skills: Develop excellent communication skills, express their ideas clearly and clearly, and be able to communicate and coordinate effectively with the team and customers.

Scientific project management methods: be familiar with project management methods and processes, and effectively use project management methods to complete projects.

Thoughtful thinking: Have a strong understanding of user experience, interaction design and visual design.

Analytical and Problem Solving Skills: Analyze problems effectively and find the best solutions.

Technical knowledge: have a basic understanding of Internet technology, and be able to understand the development language and technical solutions of the technical team.

How can I increase the impact of my product manager?

Continuous Learning: Continuously learn and improve professional knowledge and skills to better support product development and management.

Communication and cooperation: Establish a good team relationship, enhance team cohesion, and jointly achieve the goal of the product.

Proactive: Actively participate in the design and development of the product blind family, and effectively promote the progress of the product.

Leadership: Motivate team members and improve team effectiveness through your leadership and influence.

The Internet Product Manager is responsible for the planning and promotion of Internet products, and the specific responsibilities are as follows:

1. Socks tremor is responsible for the proposal of the demand plan and the feasibility of the operation strategy.

2. Responsible for content planning, advertising space development, management and schedule operation management;

3. Integrate the data and user feedback, analyze user needs and behaviors, collect product purchases and functional requirements generated in the operation, synthesize the opinions and suggestions of various departments, make overall arrangements, discuss and modify, and formulate a feasible plan.

Competencies required of an Internet product manager.

1. Market analysis and user research capabilities.

Research the market to understand user needs, competitive status, market size and profit model, and identify potential opportunities for innovation or product improvement; Communicate with users and potential users to identify the target user groups and characteristics of the opportunity.

2. Product definition and prototyping capabilities.

This part needs to determine the specific functions of the product, which is usually described by the Product Requirements Document (PRD) to form a specific scheme including interaction design (UX) and user interface design (UI). In the process of formulating a plan, it is usually through prototyping that your own ideas or solutions discussed by the team are presented in concrete form.

When it comes to product managers, many people will think, is this position a product? Is it product development, or product design? In fact, this is only part of the job content of the product manager position, a product manager of an Internet company, his daily work may include:

Target task decomposition, requirements collection, document writing, product demo design, project coordination and communication, etc., and behind each of these tasks there is a lot of meticulous work. As the core project manager of the whole product, the ultimate goal of the product manager is to make the product meet the needs of customers, the market and the company, and to be successfully marketed and achieve good market performance. The requirements for its capabilities are not only to design the function and interaction of the product, but also to be able to control the whole link of the product and be responsible for the growth, commercial value and realization of the product.